Day 7
FAIRBANKS and BARROW
Temperatures here vary more than any other city in the world: From 90+ degrees in the summer to 50 below in the winter. Fairbanksans are a hearty lot!
Golden Heart Plaza: Alaska's "Unknown First Family" sculpted by Malcolm Alexander, commemorates the 25th anniversary of Alaska statehood
Fairbanks Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship with new addition under construction
...not really, but this is the title of a novel by Fairbanks Unitarian Susan Johnson. Nana purchased and read it and found it delightful--especially fun reading about some of the locations we had just visited.
Georgeson Botanical Gardens
Visit to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdes
Our wonderfully hospitable Fairbanks host family--Dave, Laurie & Jesse (Lily in absentia)
Visit to Large Animal Research Station: Muskoxen, caribou and reindeer
Today half of our group chose to take a plane ride to Barrow, northernmost city in the U.S. (We stayed in Fairbanks to visit the places above and to meander in the gift shops.)
Traditional blanket toss
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The highpoint of the Barrow trip: There is now a new member of the Polar Bear Club--Dr. Karen, who marched boldly off into the freezing Arctic Ocean--some folks will go anywhere for a good bath--er....baptism??! Fortunately, Karen emerged cold, but unscathed.
Read one of her poems by clicking here, as she "abandons conventional"!
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Dick Weston-Jones in Barrow
